I’m trading blog posts with Donna G. Driver. I’ve written a YA with a ghost and her YA with a ghost has just been accepted for publication. She told me what inspired her plot. So, here’s her fascinating story…
Ghosts Writing Notes, by D. G. Driver
If a ghost from the past wanted to communicate through a series of handwritten notes, would a teenager today be able to read them? This was the original premise of my soon-to-be-released YA novella Passing Notes.
A couple years ago my 17-year-old daughter was in a relationship where I swear the only way she and her boyfriend communicated was through texts – endless amounts of nonsensical (and in my opinion, not very romantic) texts. I’m pretty sure they never actually talked to each other. At the same time, my younger daughter, who was nine, was learning to write cursive. She was in the rare 3rd grade classroom that still taught cursive writing, as most elementary schools have pulled that curriculum, educators claiming it to be unnecessary. Between the two experiences of my children, I came up with a story idea: a boy is trying to win the love of a girl but is failing because he keeps sending awkward and stupid texts or emails. Suddenly, he begins getting a series of handwritten notes giving him advice about how to write love letters and win the affections of this girl. He first has to learn how to decode these mysterious notes, and then he tries to figure out who is sending them and why.
I originally wrote Passing Notes as a short story, but earlier this year I felt inspired to take another look at it and stretch it out to a novella. Revision is my mantra, and I am a big proponent of never throwing away a story idea, because you never know when the muse will visit with the perfect solution to “fix” what might be going wrong. In this case, my muse told me the story just needed more to it. I wanted to really explore who Mark’s girl Bethany was. Why would actual love letters appeal to her more than the ordinary texts and emails that everyone else gets? I introduced the rival boy at school, and added a couple of Bethany’s girlfriends who aren’t particularly on Mark’s side either. Most importantly, I wanted to build the relationship between Mark and the ghost. How are the two of them related, and why does it matter to the ghost so much that Mark win Bethany’s affections? And then, of course, if he follows the ghost’s advice, will it work?

I was thrilled that Fire and Ice, the publishers of my mermaid novel Cry of the Sea, agreed to publish Passing Notes. It will be released on January 24th, 2015. In the meantime, do check out my current novel about a girl who discovers real mermaids washed up on the beach during an oil spill. You can sample the first two chapters at the publisher’s web site: www.fireandiceya.com/authors/dgdriver/crysea.html Follow me on FB or Twitter to keep up to date on the release news for Passing Notes, and read some of my other stories for free on Wattpad.
www.dgdriver.com
www.facebook.com/donnagdriver
Twitter: @DGDriverAuthor
www.d‑g-driver.tumblr.com
http://www.wattpad.com/user/DGDriver
www.pinterest.com/dgdriver
www.instagram.com/d_g_driver#
Buy Links for Cry of the Sea:
http://www.parnassusbooks.net/book/9781612357867
(It is my understand that if you buy from this indie book store in Nashville, you can request an autographed copy. They will email me, and I just have to drop by the store to sign a copy before they mail it)
http://www.lulu.com/shop/view-cart.ep
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IM0JF06
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cry-of-the-sea-d-g-driver/1118708060?ean=9781612357867
http://www.bookdepository.com/Cry-Sea-Driver/9781612357867
http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Cry-Sea/D‑G-Driver/9781612357867?id=6119232814287